Nobody’s Perfect, Not Even Google

“The best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of the Google search results.”

When HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah coined this phrase back in 2014, it felt as the most accurate way to describe the internet as we use it.

Today, Google is still the internet gateway. For the most of our daily searches, its first page results show exactly what we need. But in times, passing through this gate can lead the way in the wrong direction. The case in point, influencers search.

Influence as Humans See It

While the best results on Google come up first, with influencers search the best results will not pop up first. That is because the influence scale does not fit into the Google realm. Here’s why:

What is Influence?

Influence is the power of someone to affect other’s actions. When an influential Foodie posts a selfie at a new bar, the owners can expect a rise of attention toward their brand online and hopefully, offline as well.

When looking closer at the definition of influence, you can sense that influence is relative. The influence relies on the individual’s circle of influence. Outside the circle, the influence can drop. Influence is not just a general quality: it is around a specific topic, audience and sometimes location.

So when Google looks at a web page, it measures many things, such as popularity (social shares; backlinks), relevancy for the searcher, location, design, and hundreds of other parameters. What it doesn’t take into account is influence as humans see it.

How to Quantify Influence

Searching for the best Pizza place nearby is quite different than finding Foodies who can recommend you where to eat.

The results of the calculation sort the users by their influence level. Here at Klear, we divide it to four influence tiers: Celebrities, Power Users, Casual Users and Novice Users. For instance, a TV chef will count as a celebrity while a food blogger will most likely be a Power User.

The Magic in the Middle

The Power Users of social media are the influencers you should aim to collaborate with. Though celebrities are more glamorous, there’s a significant difference between connecting with them than with social media influencers, who gained their influence online. One way of seeing the difference is with the trust and engagement levels they get by their audience. They are approachable, creative, and friendly. They are gold.

That’s why they got the label The Magic Middle: they are not as famous as celebrities, but also they’ve got more power than the casual users.

Influencers Search Engine

And here comes the But. Because those influencers are not at the top scale of influence like celebrities, they will not show first in a simple Google result. You’ll have to dig dipper than that to find them. Such a search query on Google must take into account the influence level, relevance, expertise, location, and other metrics that you care about. Google and even a search in the social platforms themselves won’t provide you with such results.

Influencers search deserves a unique technology solution. Such a solution will take into account influence measurement, search in different social media platforms, locations, skills, and expertise. We are biased here with our influencers search engine. We developed it following ongoing requests from the industry, who showed their frustration with spending too much time in search for new influencers.

With the rise of influencer marketing, a search engine that easily finds influencers must be in any marketer’s toolkit. What are your favorite tools for finding influencers?